$157 000 menu -the power of a story.

by chee Leng (on coffee makers)
(Singapore)

$157 00 is what a menu is going off at a auction soon. Nope, there is no food and the menu we are talking about is actually a very old piece of paper.

That menu happens to the last lunch that is served on Titanic before it sank, of course, any collector would pay top dollars for this piece of paper.

Think about it, what is so special about this piece of paper, of this boat that sank. This is an old piece of paper, and this is a boat or rather ship that had sank like thousands of other ship.

The difference is of course the story, the tag, the situation. An unsinkable ship sank. Personally, I think the movie "Titanic" has help to elevate the status of Titanic to a legend.

Otherwise, it would be the ship that is supposedly unsinkable but because of some poor judgement has sank.

For folks that are thinking of owning this menu, do check out the link to the auction house, and all the best!

My $0.02

The price that is tag on this piece of paper is what is known as perceived value. The paper or menu on its own has no value.

The value that come with this menu is added by the story of it being on board Titantic. And there is a value because there is a willing party that agrees with this value.

Thus, if you are marketing a service or product, it very much works the same way. The product or service that your are offering has to add value to someone or something.

How much that value is worth is base on the story that surrounds it, and of course, the willingness of the other party that is paying for it.

And that is what some F&B companies are doing. Some time back I wrote and muse if coffee with a different name sells better (seriously it does)?

Companies are selling the coffee but with a different story, and it helps to make them more money. Thus, in F&B and marketing, calling "a spade a spade", doesn't make much money.

But, calling a spade a tool that would assist to build the dream house, increase the value of the value, and makes one more money.

I wrote this because I am absolutely amazed at the power of story and how much people are willing to pay for it. I hope this gets you in the right direction of marketing your next coffee product or service.